April 16, 2009
11:00 AM (EDT)

News Release Number: STScI-2009-17

Galaxy Cluster MACS J0717

April 16, 2009: The most crowded collision of galaxy clusters has been identified by combining
information from three different telescopes. This result gives scientists a chance
to learn what happens when some of the largest objects in the universe go at each
other in a cosmic free-for-all. Using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory,
Hubble Space Telescope, and the Keck Observatory in Hawaii, astronomers were
able to determine the three-dimensional geometry and motion in the system
MACS J0717.5+3745 (or MACS J0717, for short), located about 5.4 billion light-years
from Earth.